Fox TV Stations Premiere Two-Hour Block of STEM Programming with Philippe Cousteau

On Saturday, September 13, the Fox Television Stations will debut a new two-hour block of educational programming called Xploration Station. The weekly block, created and produced by Steve Rotfeld Productions, will consist of four half-hour shows based entirely on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM).

The four shows include Xploration Awesome Planet, hosted by Philippe Cousteau, grandson of legendary explorer Jacques Cousteau; Xploration Outer Space, hosted by Harvard scholar and astronautics expert Emily Calandrelli; Xploration Earth 2050, which explores what the world and technology will look like in the year 2050; and Xploration Animal Science, which explores animal behavior.

"Most of the other Saturday morning stuff is sort of soft adventure and animals," said Steve Rotfeld, president of Steve Rotfeld Productions. "We thought, 'Let's try to do something that's educational but also fascinating.' We thought that STEM was a great hook for that, since there's such a huge movement to advance STEM education."

According to the US Department of Education, only 16 percent of high school seniors are proficient in mathematics and interested in a career in the STEM fields, and even among those who do purse a college major in those subjects, only about half choose to work in a related career. Frank Chica, Senior VP of Programming for Fox TV Stations, clearly sees this deficit as an opportunity to promote STEM education among young students.

"We take our kids programming very seriously and feel that Xploration Station is a rare, focused effort within the E/I world. Its emphasis on STEM education is timely, important, and should appeal to the 13-16 year old target age," Chica said.

All four series will premiere this Saturday, September 13, on local Fox stations. The episodes will also be available to watch for free on Hulu the following day. 

Click here to watch a trailer for Xploration Station at gei.21cf.com.